L.A. Observed gets results?

The Times plans to reopen its grand front door on First Street, the city landmark "globe lobby," for the first time since Sept 11, 2001. Just Monday, L.A. Observed pointed out that, to save a little money on guards, the globe lobby remained closed and that only one entrance to the entire Times building was useable.

The lobby's most prominent features are a large rotating globe showing all the countries of the world and wall murals by the noted artist (and later MGM art director-producer) Hugo Ballin. His paintings also adorn the Griffith Park Observatory, the city council chambers in City Hall and the Wilshire Boulevard Temple. The lobby, if I'm not mistaken, is a certified Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument largely because of Ballin's work.

There's also a small museum with an old linotype machine and other newspaper relics. The Times memo doesn't say whether the public will be admitted when the lobby reopens Monday (weekdays only, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.).